


Unjust Desserts

by seasparks



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Pancakes, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I mean it's still a comedy but there's Intense Feelings too, Spoilers, Spoilers for Episode: s01e19 Young Blood Old Souls, everything is okay they just have a lot to work through, super glad we know that ampersand and slash mean very different things, this was supposed to be a lighthearted comedy, we are the midas of hurt/comfort, we didn't always, what happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28309203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasparks/pseuds/seasparks
Summary: Luz knew she was bound to run into culture shock on the Boiling Isles eventually.Sure, she had had to adjust to the constant presence of demons, monsters, magic, witches, and all sorts of things, but that hadn't been much of an issue for her. Nor was the part where her first meeting with the witch who was now her closest friend involved said witch trying to get her dissected. It was something deeper, something far more fundamental. A truth upon which she had built her entire world.One calm Saturday morning, those foundations get blown to pieces, and she is forced to either adapt...or suffer the consequences.orLuz finds out nobody on the Boiling Isles has ever heard of pancakes.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Lilith Clawthorne, Lilith Clawthorne & Luz Noceda
Comments: 12
Kudos: 122
Collections: Good Lumity Fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stillinbeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillinbeta/gifts).



Luz's mouth gaped open at the news that had just turned her whole world upside-down.

"You don't have _pancakes_ here?!!??!"

In the months after Luz's disastrous field trip to the emperor's castle, Luz had started inviting her friends over to the Owl House every weekend for brunch. They had all needed something comfortable in their lives, and in Luz's words, "What could possibly be more comforting than brunch?" This week, Luz finally remembered to make pancakes like she'd been meaning to ever since the tradition began. It was a shame that Gus and Willow were busy, but she refused to wait another week when she didn't know how long it would take before she remembered to make pancakes again.

Eda winced at Luz's sudden outburst. "Kid, it's too early for this. What in the world is a 'pan cake'?"

Luz's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the confirmation that her beloved breakfast staple didn't exist on the Boiling Isles. "They're—"

"Ooh, I know, I know!" King interrupted. He jumped up on the kitchen table and started to explain. "Eda, I can't believe you'd forget! Luz was just telling us about all the different labels that the human world has for things: she said she's bi, which means she's interested in everyone regardless of gender, and she _also_ said that 'pan' is a geeky word that means the same thing!" King's eyes widened, his limbs quivering with anticipation. "This means a pancake...is a cake that's _every_ type of cake simultaneously! A Pan-Cake, if you will! Imagine the possibilities!"

Luz facepalmed. "King, that's...almost right in a lot of ways, but..."

"As expected from my dear sister and her pet." Lilith sighed.

"I am no one's pet!" King cried, to everyone's indifference.

"Iiiii aaaaaam," Hooty hooted languidly from outside the window.

"No you're not, Hooty, shut up!" Eda yelled.

"They're a breakfast food from the human world," Amity said from the entrance of the kitchen. When everyone turned to stare at her, a light dusting of pink appeared on her cheeks, and she mumbled, "She talks about them a lot when the Azura Book Club meets."

Luz, who dashed toward Amity and wrapped her in a tackle-hug. "Amity!" she shouted, "You're here! How'd you get in?"

Amity shrugged. "The annoying bird tube thing was distracted, so I just showed myself in. I hope that's okay?"

"Of course it's okay!" Luz answered, then turned to Eda and asked, "It's okay, right?"

Eda rolled her eyes. "Yes, Luz, it's okay if your perfect honor roll student girlfriend who's over here all the time lets herself in."

Luz and Amity looked at each other in panic, then quickly looked away, blushing.

"She's not—" Luz started.

"We aren't—" Amity began.

They sputtered out, embarrassed further by their simultaneous protests. 

Lilith smirked. "I see your protégé takes after you in more ways than I thought, Edalyn."

"That was _one time,_ Lily! And it's not like I ever saw her again, anyway!" Eda braced herself for Luz's inevitable barrage of questions any time her past came up, but to her great surprise, the human was silent. "Uh, Luz? You okay? Aren't you gonna bug me for lore about my mysterious past or whatever?"

Luz shook her head and sighed dramatically. "I would, but...I can't believe you don't have _pancakes_ here. Without pancakes, I...I don't know how I'll last here long enough to find a way back to the human realm..."

Lilith turned to face her. "Luz," she asked, her voice urgent, "are you saying these 'pancakes' are something you need in order to survive?"

Luz nodded sadly.

"How often do humans eat pancakes?"

"Umm..." Luz thought back to her time in the human world, but she didn't have any points of reference other than herself and her mother. "I don't know about other people, but I had them once or twice a week, I guess?"

Amity's eyes flew open in terror. "Once or twice a _week?!_ Luz, you've been here for _months_ , why didn't you say anything?!" She started hyperventilating.

"Hey, it's okay," Luz said. She started rubbing small circles on Amity's back to try and help her calm down. "With everything that's happened on the Boiling Isles, I kinda just forgot. There was...well, all the bad stuff," she glanced at Lilith, who flinched at the reminder, "but I've also been having such a good time with Willow, and Gus, and especially you, Amity, that I never even thought about pancakes until this morning.

"Oh Titan, it's my fault?" Amity looked crestfallen. "Luz, I...I had no idea, I'm so sorry, if I had known, I would have...I don't know, done _something_." Tears started to well up in her eyes. "And now you're...you might..."

"Keep yourself together, Amity," Lilith admonished her, "Luz needs you. Luz is going to need all of us."

Eda waved her hand dismissively. "Let the girl process how she wants, Lily. She's just a kid. And besides, we're all to blame here." She glared at Lilith. " _Some of us_ more than others."

"Uh, I think you might be mis—" Luz tried to explain, but Lilith cut her off.

"It's okay, Luz. I know it can be hard to ask for help, but we— _they're_ your family, and none of us are going to let anything happen to you. Just leave it to us. What ingredients do you need in order to make pancakes?"

Luz realized she wasn't going to be able to convince them that she'd been joking, so with a shake of her head and a resolution to apologize to Amity later, she started listing ingredients. "Let's see...normally, you'd use flour, milk, eggs, sugar, oil, salt, and baking soda. I can't drink milk, but we can just use water for that in a pinch, and I know we already have sugar, oil and salt, so that just leaves...flour, eggs, and baking soda." Amity summoned a pen and paper and started taking notes.

Eda made a face. "Ugh, baking soda? I tried that stuff once. Worst human soda I've ever had, no matter how I baked it."

"How did you...no, never mind." Down that path lay madness, Luz decided. "Do you still have some?"

Eda shrugged. "Beats me, kid. If I do, it's in the basement somewhere."

Amity checked off 'baking soda' on her list and scribbled something next to it. "We'll just have to hope," she said seriously. "What about flour? Surely you have some here for baking, Eda?"

Eda made another, even more disgusted face. "I tried baking one time, and it came out so bad I swore it off completely. Heh, guess I didn't _knead_ that bread after all." She snorted at her own joke and elbowed Lilith, who just rolled her eyes.

"Edalyn, if you didn't knead the dough, that would explain why it—"

"Nope! Shut it. Don't care." Eda made a zipping motion with her hand. "Anyway, Hooty's been flour-free ever since."

"Thaaat's riiight! No gluten for _this_ demon, hoot hoot!" came a hoot from outside that everyone ignored.

Amity tapped her pen against the table, thinking. "The kitchen at home should be well-stocked with various kinds of flour. I'm sure Ed and Em could bring some over if I asked." She checked off another item. "That just leaves—"

"Eggs!" Luz finished. "That should be easy, right? Lots of things lay eggs here, don't they?"

Amity shook her head sadly. "They do, but...none of them are edible. I'm sorry, Luz."

"Bzzzt! Sorry, Miss Top Student, but you've got it wrong," Eda explained. "Only _most_ of them are inedible." She winked at Amity. "Looks like we'll be able to save _Mrs_. Top Student after all."

Lilith whacked her sister on the back of her head. "Stop teasing her. This is serious. And besides, where do you suggest we _find_ slitherbeast eggs?"

"Funny that you should say 'we', dear sister." Eda flashed her a smile, her gold fang gleaming. "Wanna take a good ol' Clawthorne family vacation to the Knee?"

"Yes. I'll be ready in fifteen minutes." Lilith pulled out a small notebook identical to Luz's and started drawing glyphs.

"Huh." Eda looked puzzled. "I thought I was gonna have to drag you with me."

Lilith paused her work and looked her sister in the eye. "A child's life is at stake, Edalyn. _Your_ child. I will do everything in my power to make sure she is safe, happy, and cared for, even if it means risking my life." A look of pure self-loathing flashed over her face as she recalled her actions as leader of the emperor's coven. "I think that's the _least_ I can do, considering."

Luz felt herself start to tear up. "Lilith, that's..."

"I know, Luz." Lilith stared at the half-finished fire glyph in her notebook, as if staring hard enough could make it ignite and burn her sins away. "I can never fully make amends for the hell I've put you through, but I still have to strive to do better, to _be_ better. I must let go of the past, but never allow myself to forget about it, and I— _oof!_ " She grunted as Luz slammed into her and wrapped her arms around her.

Luz looked up to her, tears in her eyes, and asked, "C-can I call you...Aunt Lily?"

Truth be told, Luz had forgiven Lilith within a month of her taking half of Eda's curse and coming to live at the Owl House. She knew it was naïve of her, but sharing a home with the older witch, seeing her strive to be a better person, getting to know her as something more than an antagonist...she couldn't help but see the emperor's servant Lilith and Eda's sister Lily as two different people, and in the months that followed, 

Shocked, Lilith could only nod.

"I...I love you, Aunt Lily. Please...come back safe."

Lilith...no, Lily froze. Then, after a long pause, she gave Luz a soft pat on the head. "I will, Luz," she whispered. "And if this is just a...symptom of your pancake deprivation, I'll understand if you wish to take it back once you're better."

Luz hoped with all her heart that everyone would misread her shakes of silent laughter as crying. They'd even be half right.

"What am I, chopped bile sac?" Eda grumped.

Amity shot her a glare. "They're having a _moment_ ," she hissed.

King apparently decided that this would be the best moment to burst into the kitchen with a bowl full of weeds he must have just gathered from outside, toss a few fistfuls in the air, and shout, "Who wants snackies!!"

"Not now, King!" Amity and Eda shouted in unison.

"Bah! Nobody appreciates a good tyrant any more," King grumbled as he stomped out of the kitchen.

"Okay, moment over!" Eda helpfully informed Luz and Lily. "You there, Blight kid," she said, pointing at Amity. "See if you can find the baking soda downstairs, and get the twins to steal some flour from your snobby parents. Heh, those kids are a riot." She snorted with laughter. "After that, just hold down the fort and make sure Luz doesn't bite it before we get back, got it?" Her words were flippant, but there was real concern in her eyes.

Amity nodded, and Eda swooped out of the kitchen to get ready for her trip.


	2. Chapter 2

After the Clawthorne sisters left for the Knee, Amity messaged the twins to let them know what was going on and ask if they could bring some flour with them, while Luz fidgeted awkwardly on the couch. She hadn't meant to make such a scene, or for everything to get so out of control, but now Eda and Lily were off on the Knee to risk their lives for her, and Amity was here feeling guilty and afraid, and it was all Luz's fault.

Amity jotted some more notes down on her list. She was still shaking a little bit, but she seemed to have taken Lily's earlier reprimand to heart and was keeping herself together much better than she had at first. "O-okay, that should be the flour taken care of. Luz, will you be fine up here by yourself while I go downstairs and look for the baking soda?"

Luz frowned. That wasn't the plan. "Of course not! I'm going with you," she insisted. "Trust me, I've been down there before. It's...a lot."

"A-are you sure? Are you feeling strong enough to come with me?"

Luz took a deep breath. This was it. She had to come clean. "Actually...I was exaggerating how much I needed pancakes. I was just joking, and I thought it was obvious, but I should have realized it would go like this with how little you know about humans here."

"Luz..." Amity began, tears welling up in her eyes. "How could you..."

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, Amity. I understand if you—" Amity buried her head in Luz's hoodie and started loudly crying, cutting her apology short. Without realizing it, Luz instinctively reached her hand up and started slowly running her fingers through Amity's hair.

"How could you expect me to let you put yourself in danger?!" Amity continued between sobs. "You don't have to put on a brave face! Maybe the old Amity would let you wear yourself out, but I won't! I'm here for you this time, Luz, so let _me_ be _your_ fearless champion for once, okay?"

"Wait...what do you mean, 'this time'?" Luz felt Amity tense up at the question.

"I hate that I couldn't be by your side when you went to the castle to rescue Eda," Amity admitted. "I was just stuck at home, useless, with my dumb broken leg."

"Your broken leg that you got from protecting _me_ , while doing a favor for _me,_ " Luz pointed out. "You're already my fearless champion, Amity," she whispered, scratching Amity's head gently.

"Ha," Amity laughed mirthlessly. "If I'm such a fearless champion, then how come I still have nightmares about it almost every night? You could have _died,_ Luz, and I would have had to watch it on the crystal ball."

"Amity, you're not listening, I—"

Amity snapped upright and glared at Luz. "No, you're not listening!" she shouted. "You're in danger, right now! If you went down there and something happened to you...I, I don't know how I'd handle it. I haven't even asked you to a Grom yet, I—" Her hands flew up to her mouth when she realized what she'd just let slip. "I-I-I'm gonna go now. Just stay here and take care of yourself. Please, Luz."

Amity fled down to the basement, leaving Luz alone and trying to figure out what just happened. "Grom...?" she said to no one in particular. "Does that mean...she..."

Luz shook her head. She needed answers, she needed to apologize, and she needed to make sure Amity got through the Owl House's labyrinthine basement safely, and there was only one way to do all of those things. Resolute, she stood up, checked her glyph papers, and marched over to the basement door and down the stairs.

* * *

The basement was every bit as miserable as Luz remembered. Upstairs, the Owl House was cluttered, but not completely unlivable, and the clutter was at least interesting, or cute, or funny, or King's fault. Downstairs, however, all bets were off. Eda kept anything too dangerous, too ugly, or too inconvenient to be kept upstairs in the basement, and if there was an organizational system—which Luz found very unlikely—only Eda knew what it was.

"Amity? Hello?" Luz called. Eda swore there were no dimensional shenanigans going on with the Owl House's basement, but Luz always felt like she had entered another world when she had to go there to look for something, and she considered herself quite the expert on that particular subject. It was less like searching through a basement and more like searching through a quiet, eerie forest...where all the undergrowth and trees were made of dangerous magical junk...and the only bird in the 'trees' was Hooty.

That last thought was enough to get Luz walking faster. "Helloooo!!" she called again. "Amity? Are you there? I promise I'm okay, I just really want to talk to you, so...you can come out now, okay? Please?"

She'd been looking for half an hour with no sign of Amity when she thought she heard a scrabbling sound nearby. "A-Amity?" she said, more timidly before. "Is that you? Please be you and not some horrifying monster." She crept slowly toward the source of the sound, but before she was even halfway there, a pair of goopy purple hands reached out from behind her and pulled her backwards, one of them covering her mouth to muffle her scream.

"Luz, why are you _here?!_ " Amity hissed at her as quietly as she could. "What did I just say? Don't you...trust me?" It looked like she had been crying more after she left, and sounded like she might start up again any moment.

"Of course I do!" Luz whispered urgently. "I trust you more than anyone, Amity. There's no one I'd rather have trying to save my life. And what you just said before you ran off is exactly why I'm down here." 

"O-oh. Right," Amity mumbled, suddenly very red and very self-conscious.

Luz put her hands on Amity's shoulders and looked her, if not in the eyes, then as close to in the eyes as she could manage. "I was serious before, Amity. I wasn't downplaying anything. I'm not sick. It was just a joke that got blown out of hand. Which means you'll..." she swallowed nervously, "you'll have another chance to ask me to Grom. I-if you still want to."

"Of course I'll still want to!" Amity said, a bit more loudly than she intended.

And likely a bit _too_ loudly: they both heard the rustling sound again, and it was getting closer. They turned around, but there was nowhere else to run through the forest of discarded junk.

"Luz, I...I'm sorry I didn't listen to you earlier," Amity said, tears starting to drip down her face. "I just wanted to feel like I could be useful to you, and now here we are..."

"Amity...you _are_ useful to me." Luz placed her hand on Amity's cheek and brushed a tear out of her eye with her thumb. "You're more than useful; you're _amazing_. Every moment I'm with you is the best moment of my life, and I was so jealous of the person you wanted to ask to Grom." She laughed nervously. "Guess that was kinda silly of me, huh?"

Amity laughed, too. "You're kind of a silly girl, Noceda," she said fondly. When she heard the rustling sound again, she grabbed Luz's free hand and squeezed it, but there was a slight smile on her face. "You know, this is kind of like the part in _Good Witch Azura_..."

"...where Azura and Hecate hide from the Howling Breadbeast!" they finished in unison. As they shared another laugh, Luz couldn't help but notice how beautiful Amity managed to be even in the dim basement lighting. Her cheek was so soft; it made her wonder if her lips were soft, too. They certainly looked like they were...

Luz leaned in toward Amity, and Amity must have been thinking something similar, because she also started to lean toward Luz. Their lips were about to brush when they were jolted back to alertness by a sudden thud, followed by some very familiar grumbling.

"Impudent obstacle! Face the wrath of the King of Demons!" King shouted as he kicked the offending can as hard as he could, sending it a whole two feet in the girls' direction.

"King?" Luz gasped. "Is that you?"

"Yes, it is I!" King announced as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Did you come to grovel before me and beg forgiveness for rejecting my snackies?"

Luz and Amity glanced at each other, equally confused. "What are you talking about?" asked Luz.

"Ugh, never mind! Some royal subjects you two are," King said with a shake of his head. "Soon...soon I will be the king not only of demons, but of _snackies!_ " he muttered as he walked away, his back bathed in an eerie glow by the contents of a water bottle he had slung over his shoulder.

Amity groaned. "Well, _that_ was pointless. I ignored you, came down here for no reason, got scared half to death first by King, then by you, then by King again, and now we're leaving empty-handed. Again, for no reason."

"I wouldn't say _nothing..._ " Luz said, blushing. "I-I mean, I still _want_ to have pancakes, so we should still try to find that baking soda, and..." She paused; something had caught her eye. "Hold on, what's that?" She walked over to the can King had kicked out of his way and gasped in shock: it was a can of baking soda, and from how it felt, there had to be some left. She held it up triumphantly and turned to show Amity. "I found it! I found the baking soda!"

Amity smiled; she wasn't enthusiastic any more, but she could still appreciate Luz's energy, just like she always had. "So what was the other thing you were going to say about coming down here?" she asked.

"O-oh, um...well, now I know you have a crush on me, and you know I have a crush on you, and, well..." Luz tossed the can between her hands nervously, "I was thinking, maybe we could be girlfriends? If you want?"

"Yes! Titan, yes, Luz, that would be so wonderf—um, I mean, uh...y-yeah. I'd like that." Amity calmed herself down well, but Luz noticed that she was still nearly vibrating with excitement.

"In that case..." Luz offered Amity her hand. "Shall we go, my fearless champion?"

Amity accepted Luz's hand and gave it a long squeeze. "Of course, my fearless champion. Lead the way!"

They walked together back toward the stairs out of the basement, giggling.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they were back upstairs, Luz and Amity flopped down on the couch, exhausted. They talked a little bit, mainly about whatever popped into Luz's mind, but mostly Amity scrolled through Penstagram with Luz watching over her shoulder. At some point Amity started to shiver, so Luz grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around both of them, earning a peck on her cheek from the grateful witchling.

Eda and Lily's return from the Knee was announced first by the sound of their arguing, and second by Amity's least favorite avian-cylinder-domicile hybrid.

"Guess _hoot's_ here!" Hooty hooted. "Heh, you catch what I did there? _Hoot's_ here? Like—"

Eda slammed the door open, cutting him off. Her planned greeting died in her throat when she saw Luz and Amity, and an evil grin formed on her face. "Well, well, well, look at you two lovebirds," she teased.

Luz and Amity blushed, but they also smiled, and they didn't budge from their very comfortable spot.

"I guess we are, aren't we?" said Luz.

"All the evidence _does_ support it," said Amity.

"Hey!" shouted Eda. "No fair! Now what am I supposed to tease you about?"

"There, there, Edalyn." Lily patted her sister on the shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure someone as talented at mischief as you will have no trouble finding something."

"Did you find them?" Luz asked, her eyes shimmering.

"Did we _find_ them? Who do you think you're talking to, _not_ the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles?" Eda grinned, and with a flourish, she pulled out a basket full of lumpy, dark grey eggs with splotches of magenta. "One dozen slitherbeast eggs, freshly snatched!" She leaned in conspiratorially and added, "It would have been two dozen if _someone_ hadn't dropped her basket in the middle of some completely unnecessary heroics."

"Completely unnecessary?" Lily put her hands on her hips. "The slitherbeast was charging right at you. What was I supposed to do, Edalyn? Just let you die?"

"No, you were _supposed_ to trust me to take care of myself. You know, just like I always have."

"It's not a matter of trust. I am just trying to live up to my role as your big sister for once."

"Yeah, well, last I checked, big sisters aren't supposed to run headlong into the path of a charging slitherbeast, Lily."

"Well, excuse me for looking out for you," Lily huffed.

"Well, excuse _me_ for wanting you to take better care of yourself and not just me," Eda shot back.

Luz stared at the arguing sisters, wide-eyed. "This is so weird," she whispered to Amity.

"Why?" Amity whispered back. "Don't they argue like this all the time?"

"Yeah, but usually Eda's the reckless one and Aunt Lily's the responsible one. Watching this just feels... _wrong_." 

They were saved by a knock at the door. "Hey Scary Girl," Hooty hooted from outside, "your less-scary siblings are here!"

" _Less_ scary?" came Edric's voice from outside.

"Are we losing our touch?" Emira followed up as she opened the door for herself and Edric.

"No," Amity deadpanned, "it's the bird tube who's wrong."

The twins' eyes lit up when they saw their little sister cuddling with Luz on the couch. 

"Em, look! Mittens and her girlfriend are all snuggled up together," Edric gleefully observed.

"Ed! They're still 'just friends', remember?" Emira mock-scolded her brother.

Luz smiled. "Not any more, actually!"

"I've found that I quite enjoy snuggling up with my girlfriend," Amity said smugly and snugly.

The twins exchanged a panicked glance. "Ugh, seriously, Mittens?" Emira pouted. "How are we supposed to tease you now?"

Edric patted his sister on the back. "Don't worry, Em, we're clever; we'll think of something," he consoled her.

Luz and Amity looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Are we missing something?" the twins asked in unison, looking to Eda for guidance.

"Probably," Eda shrugged. "Ugh, maybe I should've teased them less. Now they're gonna be even _worse_."

"Did you come here just to congratulate us on our relationship, or did you bring the flour with you, too?" Amity asked.

"Don't worry Mittens, we've got you covered," Edric said. "Check it out!" He made jazz hands at Emira, who drew a spell circle that summoned a bag of flour into her waiting arms.

Luz carefully extricated herself from the blanket and her cuddly girlfriend, then bolted over to Emira and grabbed the flour, grinning. "Thanks a ton, you two! I can't wait to have my first pancakes since coming to the Boiling Isles!"

Lily took the basket of eggs from her sister and followed Luz into the kitchen. "You can't wait any more?" she asked, her voice overflowing with concern. "I didn't know you had so little time left. Please, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Nope!" Luz replied. "I've made these about a million times, so I've got the recipe memorized and everything!" She pulled out a bowl and some measuring cups and got to work mixing ingredients right away.

"You need the griddle heated up though, right?" Lily asked. "I'll take care of that for—"

"Aunt Lily, it's fine, I promise," Luz said. "The batter needs to sit for a little while after I mix it together anyway, so I always wait until I'm done mixing it to preheat the griddle. I'll be fine, I promise." Luz was determined to stick with the plan she and Amity had come up with, but as much as she loved Lily, she was starting to wear away at her resolve.

Once the batter was mixed and the griddle was heating up, Luz rejoined everyone in the living room. As to be expected when the Blight twins and Eda were put in the same room together, the conversation was lively and fun; everyone was having such a great time that they didn't notice King sneak into the kitchen with a beaker full of a mysterious glowing fluid, nor did they notice him sneak back out with an empty beaker.

They did, however, notice when the house started rumbling.

"Uh, Eda? Is the house supposed to be making that sound?" Luz asked.

"You can never really tell with Hooty," Eda said with a shrug. "It's probably fi—" Before she could finish her sentence, a massive wave of slightly-glowing, kaleidoscopic pancake batter came pouring out of the kitchen like the world's goopiest rainbow. "Never mind, _run!_ " she shouted.

Everyone scrambled for the front door, escaping just moments before malicious mixture would have swallowed them whole.

"Whew! I didn't expect _that_ to happen!" King announced once they were all a hopefully-safe distance from the house. "But I think we can all agree that I made it better!"

Everyone turned to look at King. Nobody gave any indication of agreeing with him.

"King..." Eda asked dangerously, "What did you do to Luz's pancake dough?"

"Er...nothing!" King said nervously. "I didn't add anything to the pancake, um, batter?"

Eda stood up and put her hands on her hips, glaring down at King. "What did you add to the pancake whatever-it's-called?" she growled.

"Uhhh...cinnamon?"

"And?"

"Nutmeg?"

"And?"

"A little bit of glue."

" _And?_ "

King hung his head, defeated. "Like a whole bottle of rejected potion slurry," he admitted.

"A bottle of of _what?_ " Lily asked, glaring not at King, but at Eda.

"Rejected potion slurry," Eda explained. "Whenever a potion doesn't work quite right, I dump it into a big cauldron in the basement, just in case I want to do something with it later!" Her confident smile faded to a sheepish grin under her sister's withering gaze. "Waste not, want not?"

Luz, meanwhile, was nearly vibrating with excitement. " _Ohmygod_ Eda you have potion _jungle juice?_ " she asked, stars in her eyes. "That is so _cool!!_ " When Amity shot her a look, she cleared her throat and added, "And dangerous. A very dangerous, and irresponsible, and deeefinitely not awesome thing to do." She nodded seriously.

A loud cracking sound drew their attention back to the house, followed by the sound of shattering glass. Batter poured out of the ground floor windows, forming half a dozen or so enormous, psychedelic limbs. As if that weren't bad enough, it started shambling toward them, radiating an aura of intense malice.

"Ha! I knew it!" King shouted gleefully, pointing at the monstrosity that had just kicked them out of their home. "There it is! The Pan-Cake!"

His celebration was interrupted by a huge glob of batter impacting the ground just a few feet away. It made a sizzling sound as it landed, and smaller droplets of batter broke off from it and splattered around, sending up plumes of smoke wherever they landed.

"Everyone, get back!" Lily yelled. She ran forward and tossed her staff behind her, putting up a tall barrier of energy between everyone else and the Pan-Cake.

" _Lily, no!_ " Eda shouted.

Ignoring her sister, Lily quickly pulled out several glyphs from a pocket buried somewhere in her robes, activated them, and threw them down on the ground in front of her. A massive wall of ice quickly sprouted up from them, creating a somewhat flimsier second barrier between everyone else and the Pan-Cake and a much-needed first barrier for herself. She frantically sketched more glyphs to fortify the wall, first on paper, then directly onto the ice with a jet of flames produced by a small fire glyph, bracing for the Pan-Cake to send more deadly brunch projectiles their way.

It never came.

Instead, they all heard a grating battlecry from the Owl House. "Ohhh no you don't! I don't know what you are, but I'm not allowed to have gluten, hoot hoot! Eda's orders." The Pan-Cake continued winding up for the attack. "Think you can ignore me, do you? Fine, bring it on! Hooooot!!" Hooty opened his mouth far wider than Luz had ever seen—or wanted to see—and, paradoxically, began loudly and messily eating the Pan-Cake.

Everyone stopped and watched the carnage happen, unable to look away. Eventually, after a harrowing scene none of them would soon forget, Hooty was finished, and there was no trace of the Pan-Cake to be seen. With nothing left to do, he retreated back into the front door and promptly fell asleep while his impromptu meal digested, leaving everyone staring in awe and horror.

Eda counted something on her fingers, her face scrunched up in thought. "That's...yep, that's the third most disgusting thing I've ever seen Hooty do," she announced matter-of-factly.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as she was sure the danger had passed, Lily sank to the ground, shaking from exertion. Eda stomped over to her, furious, and started shouting at her. "Titan's balls, Lily, what were you _thinking?!_ You could have been killed!"

"I...I had to do _something,_ " Lily said, her voice small. "I've let down Luz and Amity so many times already, and you have to look after Luz; it was only rational for—"

"Only _rational?!_ " Eda yelled. She looked almost as angry as when she was fighting Lilith for Luz at the emperor's castle. "What the hell is _rational_ about throwing your life away like that? What about all your fancy talk about looking to the future and letting go of the past? 'Cause that doesn't sound like letting go of the past to me!"

Lily spoke slowly when she answered, speaking only when she was sure each sound wouldn't suddenly become a sob. "I can...look, to the future...and still recognize that, of...of everyone here, I am...I am..." she paused to take several deep, laborious breaths before continuing, "I am the most expendable, of us. It's...it's only r—"

"No, Lily, shut up, don't you dare, don't you _fucking_ dare say 'rational' again."

"...reasonable?" Lily offered, a humorless smile on her face.

Eda didn't laugh. "I'm trying to be serious here for once in my life! You keep using Luz as an excuse, but look at her! The kid adores you! You say I have to look after her? Well guess what, _Aunt Lily:_ so do you!" She approached Lily, her face softening. "I already lost my beloved sister once, Lily. Please don't put me through that again." Eda got down on her knees and embraced Lily, and the Clawthorne sisters wept together.

Luz watched the scene unfold with a mixture of love and guilt. Unsure what to do, she glanced at Amity, who smiled bittersweetly and nodded. After taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, Luz took a step forward. "Actually, um...there's something you should both know."

The sisters pulled apart—though Eda wiped her nose on Lily's shoulder first—and slowly stood up, leaning on each other for support. Once she had their full attention, Luz continued. "When I was talking about pancakes this morning, I...kind of exaggerated how big of a deal they are. I thought it was obvious that I was being dramatic, but then Lilith latched on to the idea, and by the time I realized you all thought I was actually going to die, I couldn't get you to take my corrections seriously." She kicked the ground nervously. "I'm sorry; I should have tried harder to tell you it was all a misunderstanding, but I didn't, and you were all in danger because of me, and..." she trailed off, unsure how to conclude.

Eda started to say something, but Lily put a hand on her shoulder and shook her head. "It's okay, Luz," Lily said. "I just...wanted to prove that I could be useful, I guess. I overreacted and panicked when I should have listened." She held her arms open, and Luz ran in for a hug.

"Look at the bright side," said Luz.

"Hm?" Lily hummed skeptically.

"Since I'm not actually sick from pancake deficiency, you get to be my Aunt Lily forever!" Luz said with a giggle.

"Luz, that's..." Lily didn't know how to react. Eventually, she settled on tightening her hug around Luz and trying very, very hard not to cry and get snot in her new niece's hair.

* * *

After they went back into the Owl House, Eda decided they all needed something warm and soothing to drink, so she quickly set about preparing mulled apple blood for herself and Lily and hot cocoa for the children, dragging King along with her to keep him from causing too much more mischief. The twins decided to leave their little sister alone for once and instead started pestering Lily about adopting them and Amity.

"Do you think they're serious?" Luz whispered to Amity. They were back in their spot on the couch, huddled up together under the blankets to recover from the exhausting day.

"I don't even think _they_ know if they're serious," Amity said, shrugging.

"Do you want Aunt Lily to adopt you?" Luz asked.

Amity just stared. "Luz, I've thought you were going to die at _least_ three times today, seen your pancake batter turn into a giant monster and take over the house, watched Lilith _actually_ almost die before Hooty saved us all, watched _Hooty_ save us all, started officially going out with you, and watched you adopt Lilith as your aunt. I can't think about that right now."

"Hold on, I know just the thing!" Before Amity could protest, Luz jumped up and ran upstairs. Amity could hear her girlfriend's footsteps upstairs, followed by some clattering noises, a few seconds of silence, and then more footsteps to herald Luz's return down the stairs, now dressed in her otter kigurumi. "Tada!" she said with a toss of confetti.

Amity burst out laughing. "Luz, no!" she jokingly protested, "I can't handle an otter with a dark side, either!"

"I think you mean an otter... _with a dark side._ "

"That's...what I said."

"No, you said 'otter with a dark side', not 'otter... _with a dark side_ '," Luz pointed out, making them both dissolve into a pile of laughter.

"How did I end up dating such a dork?" Amity teased as Luz snuggled back up to her.

"I dunno, how did _I_ end up dating someone who's such a jock _and_ such a nerd at the same time?" Luz asked, barely stifling a yawn.

"Because you're extremely lucky," Amity answered smugly.

"Mhm," Luz agreed. She nuzzled Amity's shoulder and closed her eyes. "G'night, Am."

When Eda returned with the hot cocoa, Luz and Amity were asleep on the couch. She quickly glanced around to make sure her sister and the twins were distracted, then smiled. "Sweet dreams, kiddos," she said fondly, and helped herself to their hot cocoa.

* * *

The sun rose the next morning on an exceptionally crowded Owl House.

Luz woke up, tired and sore and unbelievably happy. Some time during the night, they had shifted so that her arm was wrapped around Amity, who lay half on top of her. She gave her girlfriend a gentle shake. "Am?" she whispered, "Hey, Am? It's time to get up."

Amity yawned. "Luz?" she mumbled. "Is that... _oh titan I'm sorry!_ " Her eyes flew open when she realized their arrangement, her face immediately turning tomato red. She quickly scrambled backwards off of Luz. "Ha ha, isn't that funny!" she said, panicking. "That we would end up sleeping like that! Together!"

"Am, it's okay—"

"H-hi, I'm Am...ity?" At the sound of her new nickname, Amity's memories from the previous day came flooding back. Her eyes softened as she looked at Luz. "I'm...Am, to you..." she said, amazed.

"I hope that's okay?" Luz grinned sheepishly. "I figured you wouldn't want me calling you Mi—"

"Yep, it's great!" Amity said a little too loudly before Luz could finish her other, much less wanted nickname. "It's adorable," she repeated more tenderly.

"Great! Wanna help me make breakfast before everyone's up?" Just like that, Luz was dashing off to the kitchen, leaving the choice of whether to follow up to Amity. Not that it was much of a choice at all; Amity immediately stood up, stretched, and made her way into the kitchen, eager to make something together.

* * *

The rest of the household and its guests slowly trickled into the kitchen over the course of the next hour or so. First came King, who Luz was pretty sure had a sixth sense that allowed him to detect when food was being made anywhere in the house. Next was Lily, who quietly brewed herself some tea before retreating to the living room, followed soon by the twins and their relentless-but-loving teasing.

Eda was the last one downstairs. She shuffled into the kitchen in her slippers, yawning and scratching her back. "What'cha making, kid? And please don't say pancakes."

Luz glanced between Eda and the floor nervously. "Uhhh...hotcakes?" she offered.

"What's a hotcake?" Eda asked.

"...another word for pancake," Luz admitted.

Eda groaned. "Fine. But if they take over the house again, you can go live with the Blights."

Amity and the twins exchanged worried looks. As nice as it would be having Luz around, none of them wanted to subject the human to their parents.

"Don't worry!" Luz said, "I've been keeping an eye on King all morning! Soon there'll be a bunch of normal, non-malevolent, human-grade pancakes for everyone to eat!"

True to her word, she soon had a bounty of fresh pancakes stacked up dangerously high on a plate. They were a normal pancake golden-brown, their colors didn't shift at all, and there was absolutely no ethereal light radiating from them, so Luz grabbed more plates and started serving her friends and family one by one. Once everyone had all the pancakes and toppings they wanted, Luz gave the signal, and they all took a bite at the same time. The room was silent as they chewed thoughtfully.

"This is...a pancake?" Eda asked, staring at her plate like there was some strange animal on it.

"Good one, Luz!" Edric said, grinning.

"I didn't realize you were such a trickster!" Emira added.

"Luz..." Amity said, "are you sure this is what they're _supposed_ to taste like?"

Luz stood up, carefully picked up her plate, walked over to the corner, and unceremoniously dumped the rest of her pancake into the trash. "I'm sorry, everyone," she said dejectedly, "but I think the Boiling Isles version might still need some more work." Eda raised an eyebrow at her, and she amended, "Okay, a lot more work."

Lily gave her a sympathetic smile. "If you want help, dear, I know a thing or two about the flora here on the Boiling Isles."

"And I'm sure I've got a book covering all the _nerd stuff_ for human cooking propping a door open somewhere in here," Eda added with an approving grin at her sister.

"If you need any rare ingredients, I'm sure we can..." Emira started.

"...get Blight Manor to 'donate' some to you," Edric finished. The twins winked at Luz in unison.

Amity struggled to find something else to offer. "I-I can, um..."

"Be my wonderful girlfriend, support me, work with me to come up with and test ideas, help me taste test them, and stay by my side?" Luz suggested.

"!!!" Amity squeaked, then nodded enthusiastically, then squeaked again when Luz gave her a hug and a quick kiss on the forehead.

"You know...this is really nice," Luz said.

Everyone stared at her like she'd just risen out of a cauldron covered in abomination goo.

"Eating together with all of you!" she clarified. "Not the pancakes! These pancakes are awful, eugh." Everyone nodded in agreement and laughed. "I wish Gus and Willow could have made it this week..." she said wistfully. "It really feels like we're a real family right now."

"Kid, I've got some bad news for you," Eda said seriously. "We _are_ a real family. Always have been. We just work a little better together than we did before. Now c'mere!" She burst out into a wild grin and opened her arms, and when only Luz ran over to give her a hug, she motioned to everyone to join them. "That's right, all of you! Even the disaster twins! I don't...wait, lemme check...yep, already had my elixir today, I don't bite!"

"Oh, I'm _sure_ I can find some people who would dispute that," Lily said with a cruel grin. "This one time when we were kids, Eda almost got caught shoplifting, and..."

Eda tried to protest, but her sister had everyone's attention. After her story finished, Amity, Edric, and Emira took turns trying to one-up each other with the most embarrassing stories they could think of, then Eda retaliated with one about the time Lilith had a crush on her teacher. Even Luz and King got their turns, telling stories about all the awful things Hooty got up to. Hooty, much to everyone's relief, was still sleeping off his enormous and heroic meal from yesterday.

When the Blights finally had to leave, they pulled Luz into another group hug; even Edric and Emira were sad to go. They'd been sneaking glances at Lilith all morning, but refused to say why when Luz and Amity questioned them.

"This was great, you three," Luz said, giving Amity's hand a little squeeze. "It looks like everyone needed it."

Amity smiled. "Well, it's like a very smart and cute human once said to me: what could possibly be more comforting than brunch?"

**Author's Note:**

>  **itscaravel:** lilith: oh, it's a comedy. okay. *tries to die*
> 
>  **itscaravel:** luz: i want pancakes  
>  **itscaravel:** lilith, several pages later: death can be my only absolution
> 
> huge shout-out to itsCaravel for beta reading this, even though we refused to, uh...put spaces after our ellipses... 
> 
> (we put a space after that second one tho)
> 
> (just for u)
> 
> we legit have no idea how this turned into what it is. we explicitly set out to write just a lighthearted and EXTREMELY silly fic, and while there are parts of it that definitely keep the silliness going, it's also, well. these are the end notes, you know what happened.
> 
> we just write the things that the characters do, and sometimes the characters do things we didn't expect, y'know? Lilith (or, well, Lily; we decided to stick with the nickname after Luz used it to show that she's really actually changed a lot since she came to live at the owl house. she's really not the same person any more, just like Amity) has SO much baggage and SO much guilt to live with, and we didn't realize until after we had already written a bunch how perfect it was that her insecurity & pathological drive to Do Good(tm) ended up being the biggest driving force behind this absurd situation getting as out-of-hand as it did. it just...works. we like it when things just work. it's nice.


End file.
